B. 1984, Waco, TX
Currently lives in Dallas, TX.
Public Projects
Public Art Commission, City of West Sacramento, CA (upcoming)
Picnic, Maria Hernandez Park, in conjunction with NYC Parks & Rec, Brooklyn, NY 2018
Backyard Pool, @ The Lot in conjunction with Socrates Sculpture Park and Rockrose Development Corp., Long Island City, NY. 2014
PATHWAYS: PAST/PRESENT, Moran Plant in conjunction with Burlington City Arts, Burlington, VT. 2014
A Public Pool, EAF 13: Emerging Artist Fellowship Exhibition, Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, NY. 2013
Solo and Two Person Exhibitions
Currents 123, St. Louis Art Museum (SLAM), St. Louis MO (upcoming)
House Salad, Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin, TX, 2023
Squeeze, Tweeze, Please, MAD Arts, Dania Beach, FL. 2021
The Philosophy of Goo, in collaboration with Trey Burns, Wassaic Projects, Wassaic, NY, 2020
How to fold a fitted sheet, ex ovo, Dallas, TX. 2020
Nasher Windows Series, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, TX. 2020
Bold Notion, The CORE: CLUB, New York, NY. 2018
No Your Boundaries, CUE Art Foundation, NY, NY. 2016
An Interior Complex, Sunroom Project Space at Wave Hill, Bronx, NY. 2015
Open to the Public, Rooster Gallery Contemporary Art: THE BATHROOM Project Space, NY, NY. 2014
Immaterial Labor, Callicarpa Gallery, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX. 2012
Selected Group Exhibitions
Extra Taste, International Objects, Brooklyn, NY. 2024
Moon of a Moon, Jonathan Hopson Gallery, Houston, TX. 2024
House Party, ARTSPACE, Wimberley, TX. 2023
Château Château, The Aldredge House, Dallas, TX. 2023
Exhibitionists: Art By Artists Who Curate, Walter’s, Amsterdam, NY. 2023
Breathing Among Werewolves, Keijsers Koning, Dallas, TX. 2023
(UUU) Unbounded Unleashed Unforgiving: Reconsidering Cyberfeminism in 2021, Virtual exhibition on New Art City hosted by College Art Association and the New Media Caucus, 2021
Continuum, Carillon Gallery at Tarrant County College South, Ft Worth, TX. 2020
2019 Tuesday Evenings at the Modern: Films, Ft Worth Modern Museum, Ft. Worth, TX. 2019
You’re Invited! Spring Break Art Show 2019, New York, NY, 2019
Word/Play - SoundSpace, The Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX, 2019
Shady Acres, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Salt Lake City, UT, 2019
Summer Lovin', Air Mattress Gallery, New York, NY, 2018
81: the shape of things to come, LatchKey Gallery, New York, NY, 2018
Call and Response, Wave Hill, Bronx, NY, 2017
SPRING BREAK Art Show, Fata Morgana, 4 Times Square, New York, NY, 2017
12 x 12, 2016, Black Ball Projects, Brooklyn, NY. 2016
GOING HARD: Digbeth First Friday Film Screenings, Grand Union Gallery, Birmingham, UK. 2016
U.K Performance Festival, Green River Project Room, Hillsdale, NY. 2016
SURPH, The Barn Show, East Hampton, NY. 2015
Positioning Systems, Microscope Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. 2015
Immediate Female, Judith Charles Gallery, New York, NY. 2015
INFLUX 2014 pt. 1, CR10 Arts, Hudson, NY. 2014
Fluid, Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, Staten Island, NY. 2014
DALLAS BIENNIAL DB14, Eastfield College Gallery, Dallas, TX. 2014
VIDEOROVER: Season 7, NURTUREart Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. 2013
Awards, Fellowships, Grants, & Residencies
2023-24 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Arts Project Grant for Sweet Pass Sculpture Park, Washington DC.
2023 Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Teaching Fellow, Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University, St. Louis, MO
2022 Moss/Chumley Award, Meadows Museum of Art, Dallas, TX
2020 National Endowment for the Arts Grant (NEA) in conjunction with Wassaic Projects, Wassaic, NY
2019-21 Meadows Faculty Development Grant, Southern Methodist University (SMU)
2018 The Hopper Prize Finalist
2018 Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC) Grant awarded by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Brooklyn, NY. 2018
2016 Individual Artist Award, The Santo Foundation, St. Louis, MO. 2016
Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant, New York, NY. 2015
Public Art Network Year in Review 2015 for Backyard Pool, jurors: Peggy Kendellen, Laurie Jo Reynolds, Ernest C. Wong. 2015
Sunroom Project Space Artist, Wave Hill, A Public Garden and Cultural Center, Bronx, NY. 2015
Fall 2014 New Artist Feature, Issue 113, CULTUREHALL, Online resource for contemporary art, New York, NY. 2014
Emerging Artist Fellowship 2013, Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, NY. 2013
Emerging Curator Recipient, NARS Foundation, Brooklyn, NY. 2012
Curatorial, Teaching & Publications
Sweet Pass Sculpture Park, Co-founder/Co-Director, outdoor sculpture park in Dallas, TX. 2018 - current
Visiting Associate Professor, University of North Texas (UNT), Denton, TX. 2024 - 2025
Teaching Fellow, University of Washington in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO. Spring 2023
Adjunct Faculty, Texas Christian University (TCU), Ft Worth, TX. 2021 - 2022
Visiting Lecturer in Sculpture, Southern Methodist University (SMU), Dallas, TX. 2018 - 2021
Adjunct Faculty, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), 2018.
ToolBook, A compilation of texts, images and objects that edify, inspire, support and radicalize, curated by Sarah G. Sharp. New York. 2017
Emergency INDEX Vol. 3, Performance publication, Brooklyn, NY. 2014
Prototype: An Artist Book, Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) Atlanta, GA. 2013
Thirteen Twenty Three Exhibition, 964 Dean Street, Brooklyn, NY. 2013
The Swedish Dance History Vol. 4, Inpex & the Swedish Arts Grants Committee, Stockholm. 2013
SHOW ME YOUR GLANDS, Curated Exhibition, NARS Foundation, Brooklyn, NY. 2012
Selected Press
Forever Blue Tape, The Nasher Magazine, Fall 2023
Purcell, Barbara, Handmade Readymades: Tamara Johnson’s Kitschy Kitchen Imposters in House Salad at Lora Reynolds Gallery, Southwest Contemporary, Aug 4, 2023.
Glasstire, Best of 2023, December 12, 2023
Otten, Liam, Johnson named Freund Teaching Fellow; Sam Fox St Louis Art Museum welcome acclaimed sculptor, The Source, September 1, 2022.
Avram, Danielle, In a west Dallas gallery, artist Tamara Johnson harnesses the power of goo, Dallas Morning News, October 17, 2020.
Rockefeller, Hal, Women of Texas, Less Than Half, July 27, 2020
Modern Art Notes Podcast, No. 446: John Edmonds, Tamara Johnson, May 21, 2020
Ratcliff, Darryl, West Dallas sculpture park provides oasis in a rapidly changing neighborhood, Dallas Morning News, Jun 19, 2019
Gemple, Natalie, The Nasher Wants You to Visit Its Windows, D Magazine, May 22, 2020
Fisher, Alyssa, A Semi-Permanent Picnic in the Park, Bushwick Daily, August 23, 2018.
Harding, Kate, Tamara Johnson No Your Boundaries, The Brooklyn Rail, April 6, 2016
Roffino, Sara, About Armadillos and Other Topics, CUE Art Foundation “No Your Boundaries” Catalogue, 2016
Greig, Laura, The Half-Hidden Garden, Excelsior! Blog, May 4, 2015
Kendall, Harry, Listen up: See art and architecture in dialogue this fall, Crain’s 5boros, Oct 30, 2014
Zweig, Janet, Tamara Johnson’s Waterless Pools, Public Art Review Featured, Oct 1 2014
Solomon, Deborah, No work better captures this summer of our discontent than Tamara Johnson's waterless "Backyard Pool”, Twitter, July 20, 2014
McRae, Tess, The Lot LIC series has what it takes to be great, Queens Chronicle: Qboro, August 7, 2014
ArtFCity Dream Exhibition Series: Week Nine: Dreaming About Pink Foam, Canned Shit, and SCULPTURE! 2014
Rachel Eides, RISD Student Stages Art with Endangered Providence Building, Go Local Providence, May 18, 2011
Education
Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Providence, RI – MFA Sculpture 2012
The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas – BFA Studio Art 2007